


Finding a Place and Just Staying

by Aaronlisa



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Buffy Wishverse, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-02-10 10:57:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2022576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronlisa/pseuds/Aaronlisa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of ending up in one bizarro world of Sunnydale, she travels to different versions of Sunnydale where Buffy had never come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding a Place and Just Staying

**Author's Note:**

> Written for carlyinrome for Round 102 at LJ's femslash_minis. My prompts were pairing Cordelia with any Slayer before Buffy, with Cordelia being unstuck in time, horses and a hot summer night and without angst or dead anyone. I set this story around the time of "The Wish"

She can't help but think that there should be a manual. Something with a catchy title. 

_How to be Friends with a Slayer._

She frowns at that one; it implies that she's friendly with Buffy Summers. There was that one moment but that was before she knew just how damaged Buffy was. 

_How to Cope When a Slayer Comes to Town._

That's better but there's that whole thing about Slayers being secret. Not that Buffy and her little friends ever really kept Buffy's whole secret identity secret. No, Cordelia thinks with a frown, that there should be a handbook only given to those who are unfortunate to associate with a Slayer. 

_What to Expect when A Slayer Crashes Into Your Life._

She sighs and mentally crosses that one off the list. Cordelia just wishes there was a book of some sort. A guide that'd warn a Slayer's associates how to pick out demons from normal, average people. Even a pamphlet would help. Something so that people like herself wouldn't find themselves in rather odd situations. 

_Ten Easy Ways to Pick Out A Demon From a Line Up._

It's not quite as catchy as she'd like but it'll have to do for now. If and when she ever gets back home, Cordelia figures that she'll write it and get Giles to send it off to the Council. (The fact that she may need Willow's help to compile it, never really crosses her mind.) 

* * *

The worse thing about the Espresso Pump is that it's not her Espresso Pump. As much as she hates the fact that her life was turned upside down when Buffy Summers came to town, she misses the fact that a Friday afternoon at the Pump would be the place to be to gossip and hang out before heading to the mall to pick up a perfect outfit for the Bronze. Sure, Harmony's still there but _this_ Harmony isn't _her_ Harmony. And even though she's not really speaking to Harmony right now, it still hurts when this Harmony keeps looking over at her before turning back to her gaggle of cheerleaders who all laugh like hyenas when Harmony whispers something at them. 

"So why don't you start from the beginning." 

Cordelia sighs. She's tired of starting from the beginning. She's done it enough times; enough times that she's lost count. There are of course times that stand out to her but still she just wants to get home. 

She takes a sip of her drink (which by the way, isn't as good as the ones back home, even if this is supposedly Sunnydale.) 

"The abridged version is this, a demon asked me to make a wish and I wished that Buffy Summers had never come to Sunnydale," Cordelia says. 

This Sunnydale's Slayer and Watcher combo are India Cohen and Kit Bothwell. Cordelia remembers Willow babbling something about India and how she was the Slayer before Buffy. She wonders if it makes her a bad person that she kind of wants things back to normal when it means that this pretty, vibrant girl sitting across from her is dead. Cordelia sighs again; she's starting to get a headache. 

"That makes no sense," Kit says. "Why would you make a wish around a demon? And why would the Slayer allow you to do so?" 

Cordelia rolls her eyes. "First of all, Buffy's not the boss of me, and secondly, I didn't know it was a demon at the time. It's not as if she was wearing bright neon proclaiming her demon status. She looked normal. No horns or tails." 

"Still why would the Slayer or her Watcher allow for such an event to happen, unless you were purposefully trying to change things? Perhaps you called the demon to Sunnydale?" 

"I'm sure that's not the case," India tries to defend Cordelia before the cheerleader interjects.

"As if!" Cordelia exclaims. "I'd much rather have a Sunnydale with Buffy thank you very much." 

There's an awkward silence around the table. 

"Sorry," Cordelia mumbles. "It's not personal." 

"That's alright, I understand," India says. 

All it does it make Cordelia feel awful. She decides that no matter which Sunnydale she wakes up in tomorrow morning, she'll avoid the Slayer and Watcher there. Maybe it's the fact that she keeps running into the Slayer of whatever Sunnydale she's in is what's causing the problem. If she just stays in bed, everything should be fine. 

* * *

The next day dawns like any other and Cordelia stretches in her bed. She doesn't know where she is and she doesn't care. Today she's going to stay in bed. However a loud knocking on the door that goes unheeded finally causes Cordelia to get out of bed. At the door is India. 

This is a first. Every other day has brought her a different Slayer. This is the first time she's had the same Slayer show up. 

"Hello," Cordelia says. 

"Hi, so Kit's trying to figure out what type of demon could have caused you to wind up here and I figured that maybe we could hang out together," India says. 

She can't help but think that at least Buffy was a bit more subtle than this girl standing in front of her. 

"Why don't you just ask the questions you want to ask and then you can go tell your Watcher what he needs to know," Cordelia suggests. 

"That obvious, huh?" India asks. 

"Yeah," Cordelia replies. 

"Look I wasn't lying about having the day off. I don't get very many of those and I'd like to enjoy it while I can." 

"Fine, but I get to pick what we do if we're going to play twenty questions." 

"Sure," India says with a smile. 

Cordelia hates the fact that she feels a twinge of something in her stomach. She'll never admit that it's strangely like the twinges that she used to feel around Xander. Instead she drags the other girl up to her room and finds riding clothes for the pair of them. 

* * *

India somehow ends up pulling a lot of information from Cordelia. Somehow it's easy to tell this Slayer about all of the different versions of Sunnydale she's been in. Even that horrible one where Willow was this slutty vampire and Sunnydale was overrun with vampires. Cordelia doesn't tell India about dying in that verse. But somehow the Slayer knows and she brings her horse close enough to Cordelia's and she just squeezes the other girl's hand. 

After the horseback ride (which might be one of two things that Cordelia's liking about this Sunnydale), they head back to Cordelia's house. Even though it's only the early days of summer, the afternoons are far too hot to not be inside with the air conditioner. 

* * *

"Don't you need to check in with Kit?" Cordelia asks. 

"I should but I figure sometime away from him would do us both good," India lazily replies. 

"He's pretty young for a Watcher," Cordelia points out. 

India just nods her head.

"I see the way he looks at you," Cordelia says.

"I don't like him _that_ way," India says. "It's inappropriate." 

"It seems to me that Slayers don't have a lot of other options for a meaningful relationship." 

India scrunches her face up and just asks Cordelia to pass her a bright red nail polish. She's been around Buffy and her kind to know when a line of questioning is pointless. If India wants to talk about her love life (or lack of one) she will on her own time. 

* * *

It's sometime past ten at night and it's still hot but neither girl has moved from the places on Cordelia's bed where they've been watching movies. India in an act of rebellion had called Kit and told him she was having a night off. Apparently hearing about Buffy's freedom has inspired the other girl to not be so tight-laced. Cordelia's not sure if it's a good thing or not. 

"I am not really into boys," India says. 

"Just because you're a Slayer doesn't mean you can't have a boyfriend. I mean Buffy never seems to have a problem with it. Admittedly her boyfriend is a vampire and all but she's dated human boys too," Cordelia says. 

She feels like Willow babbling out a bunch of words because she's pretty sure that India doesn't mean that she doesn't have time for a boyfriend.

India sighs. "Yeah maybe you're right, I could try having a boyfriend. Someone other than Kit." 

Cordelia doesn't know what to say. It's not that she's not feeling something for India. It's just that she doesn't want to go down that path only to wake up in another version of Sunnydale without India in it. She doesn't even question how she feels for the other girl so fast, especially when she's never been into girls. (There's a Willow-sounding voice in the back of her head that really wants to explain this change in character for Cordelia but the cheerleader shuts it down.)

"Look maybe I should just head home." India says. 

"No!" Cordelia exclaims. 

Before she can think, Cordelia moves across the couch and kisses India. It's not romantic and sweet. Instead it's clumsy and sweaty and messy. Their noses bump and the first few seconds of the kiss is all teeth and awkwardness and then India shifts slightly and they fit together. The kiss goes from awkward into something entirely different. For a moment, Cordelia forgets about everything. All that matters is the taste and feel of the girl that she's holding. 

"I'm afraid that tomorrow morning, I'll wake up and be home. I don't want to lose you," Cordelia quietly says when they pull apart. "I don't want to have _this_ be just another day in a long line of days that just blur into one." 

She doesn't say that she doesn't want to have to deal with the fact that in any other verse, India's probably dead or doesn't exist. She doesn't say how she doesn't even really want to go back home anymore. She'd be happy to stay here if she could learn how to kiss India and how to figure out who's a demon and who's not so she never makes a mistake of carelessly saying something she's only going to regret. 

"Then stay," India says. 

"It's not that easy, I don't to get to choose where I wake up." 

"You stayed here, that's never happened before." 

"Obviously," 

"So maybe you can stay here again tomorrow. And the day after that, and so on," India says. 

Cordelia smiles that the other girl's optimism. Maybe it is that easy. Only time will tell. She leans over and kisses the other girl. 

((END))


End file.
